Social Media has only emerged with the proliferation of the internet. Which is of course in it's first real generation. What I mean by that is that both the technology, and the culture of social media have only been around really since the early 2000's. Social media is a term that will not be around in another 15 years the way it is today. The example of why this is true is the phrase "www",or "world wide web". It's on the front of every email I send and every page I look at on the internet. Yet, how often do you hear anyone in daily speech use this phrase. The language that we use to describe our Internet based experiences evolve as the environment in which the Internet evolves. The Internet is still in it's Larva stages. Egg(Computers), Larva, the Pupae, finally Adult. For those of you who don't remember biology, this is the same as the life cycle of an (insect, example) Ladybug. The reason I am using this example is that our current state of Internet technology and culture is developing in a way that is akin to a larva in that it is constantly growing, consuming, and growing.
Until global saturation of the internet is reached a definitive idea of what the Internet is and will move towards being cannot truly even begin to be discussed without the constant threat of being "outgrown" or "obsolete". An infant human child puts on weight at an very high rate to facilitate it's growth. Just like the Internet is expanding at a very high rate. Internet technology is expanding at a very high rate.
A caterpillar is a creature that has a very flexible skin and is on close examination kind of mushy to the touch. The mushy growth stage that the Internet is in is comparable. The pupa stage, the next thing to happen, the future. This is the stage where the Internet has a form, it's still growing and changing but there are things that give it shape and more of a base identity. It's not just a growing tube of mush moving down the stick of time. Now we see inside the chrysalis, the edges of the more defined legs, we can see more of how the Internet will move and grow.
To step out of the analogy for a minute, to be clear. Global saturation of an Internet signal is a major defining parameter of the Internet. It could be said that saturation is the beginning of the pupae stage. To be able to be in any part of the world and have internet access with any mobile device. So basically your smart phone an Internet signal on Everest, the Gobi desert, and Easter Island. Make no mistake this will happen. The time is the only part of the equation that seems uncertain. It's inevitable.
Eventually the caterpillar forms a cocoon and changes into an adult. The insect analogy can only go so far, in that insects eventually die in the adult stage and many don't get much bigger. Arachnids especially, giant spiders molt and grow their whole life and are a better example at this point. At the risk of grossing people out I will stop there. The main thing is to convey the very primal "early" stage of the life of the Internet that we are witness too. This is a beginning, so keep in mind that saturation is only one defining parameter of the the Internet. There will be others. When I figure those out I will share them. For now, contemplating Saturation is enough.
